It is the last day of the year and honestly, I am ready to turn the page and look ahead to a new year. 2023 was hard – both personally and professionally and I am hopeful that 2024 will bring new beginnings and some quiet stability in our lives. I look forward to a year filled with adventures and laughter, good friends and a lot of travel. I wish the same to all of you and I hope that your New Years celebrations are just as you imagined them to be. Nick and I are starting it off right by having a quiet New Year’s Eve with just the two of us. We are celebrating it here in CDMX and the city is in full party mode. I doubt that we will see midnight but I am sure we will hear it.

We arrived here on December 17th by catching the bus from SMA to the South Bus Terminal. It was about a 3 hour ride and they took our bikes with no problem. The bus terminal in CDMX is unlike one I have seen anywhere. It is enormous and looks like an airport; restaurants and bars everywhere. Once we maneuvered outside it was chaos; cars, motorcycles and people filling the sidewalks and streets. We managed to get passed the throngs of people only to be hit with more people camping on all the side streets, spilling onto the road and cars honking constantly. We figured out that the campers are migrants making their way to the US border. It was terribly sad to see families, young men, and elderly people in such a dire situation. We had discussed this with a friend in SMA who said the caravans used to come through there and they volunteered to meet the migrants weekly to feed them, give supplies and try to convince them to stay in Mexico as their chances of reaching the US safely decreases as they move north. We pushed on and began our first cycle into the city.

Fun fact – all the street signs in the city are faded so if you don’t have a map downloaded you have no idea where you are going. Another fun fact – no one obeys the rules of the road. People don’t stop at red lights and the streets are filled with every mode of transportation going in a million different directions. Oh, and you have to honk your horn constantly. Our ride from the bus terminal to the Airbnb was only 10km but it took an hour because of traffic. However, we were faster than the cars.

The girls arrived the next day at 1am and I had to work that day so I walked to a local cafe and settled in while Nick went in search of groceries and a pharmacy for me as I needed penicillin and an anti inflammatory. I should mention that 2 days prior to leaving SMA I got bit by a cat. It was partly my fault as the owners warned me that when petting the cat if she gets too into it she can turn on you. I wasn’t paying attention and she got me. 3 good and deep punctures on the top of my hand. So my hand hurt like hell and it was swollen. I tried to ignore it (hard while cycling) and while it was healing I was concerned about sepsis but I kept it to myself for a few days. Then on Sunday night after Nick was sleeping I googled cat bites. Big mistake. I was then convinced that I had sepsis and would most likely be dead by morning. So I did what any rational person would do; I woke up my husband and told him of my impending death and what my last wishes were. He got up, got dressed and called an Uber. Off we went to the hospital at midnight to get it checked out.

Now, let me say that private hospitals in CDMX are amazing. We went to Medica Sur Hospital and it was fancy; like posh cafes, comfy chairs and zero wait time. They asked me what happened and if I had a credit card and ZOOM – I was in! I had a lovely doctor who spoke english and she translated for the nurses. I had my vitals taken, she looked at my hand and then I dropped my drawers and got a tetanus shot in my rear end. Then Nick and I filled out about a million pages of paperwork, tapped my credit card and we were done. I was very much relieved and happily went to sleep when we got back home at about 2:30am. I can also report that my hand is almost healed, the pain is gone, and no sepsis. Phew.

Back to the kids arriving. Since they arrived so late we did nothing on the first day except stroll around the neighbourhood and eat tacos. Each day we would have a destination and then either walk there or take the metro; there is an abundance of things to see and do in CDMX and each area in the city has something wonderful to offer. I feel like we are only scratching the surface and it would take multiple visits to really take it all in. Also, it’s the holiday season so the city is especially busy and after 4-6 hours out and about you really need to go somewhere quiet and recharge. I did have reservations about coming here due to the crime but I have felt totally safe here and while we take precautions for pick pockets, it feels like we could be in any major city.

We managed to take in the historical centro including the National Art Gallery when we went downtown but we couldn’t go into the National Palace as the tours were done for the day. We wandered amongst the incredible buildings and tried to find a used clothes market for the kids to thrift but it was a no go. So we hopped back on the metro to get out of the centro before rush hour started. While we did enjoy the day, the shear amount of people and hawkers was a bit much for all of us and we were happy to get out of there.

There is a massive park here called Chapultepec Park which is the largest park in the western hemisphere and it holds a castle, a lake, multiple galleries, museums, a zoo, etc. However, finding the entrance is very frustrating and it appears that only 1-2 gates are only ever open and often the park is completely shut. Like on Christmas Day?! We did manage to get into it prior to Christmas Day after I marched us there on the longest route possible and everyone hated me by the time we arrived. Then no one wanted to explore the park as everyone was tired. Sigh. We then walked to the ritzy area Polanco for lunch and then caught the bus home.

Nick and moved from the Airbnb on the 22nd to a housesit in an old historical apartment just a few blocks away. The girls stayed in the Airbnb for a few more days and then we moved them into a swanky hotel for their last few days for a bit of luxury before flying home. The hotel was Plaza Galleria Reforma and I recommend it to anyone coming to the city.

We had slow morning with the girls and usually didn’t get out of the house until 11am; we shopped, went to the Museum of Modern Art, ate loads of pastries, and just wandered the streets and people watched. It was so much fun to have them here and have a different Christmas together. The girls flew home on the 29th and Nick and had one full day of rest and then have spent the last 2 days discovering more of the city on our bikes.

We cycled out to where all the super rich live and looked at all the fancy houses and shops. There is a much bigger police presence in that area and most houses have a security guard standing out front. Beautiful area though, very clean, and lots of parks. I will say this city has parks everywhere; I guess because everyone lives in apartments the parks become an extension of their living space.

On Sundays, a major road in the city called Reforma is closed to traffic and it is opened to people to use. It’s amazing. It runs from Chapultepec Park all the way to the Basilica de Guadalupe at the other end. Round trip it is about 20km and it passes many monuments in the city. Such a lovely way to take the sights in. The Basilica dates back to 1666 and the history is that this is the spot in 1541 when the Virgin of Guadalupe (Mary) first appeared and was seen by a peasant named Juan Diego. It is among the most visited Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world and is now a National Park. It was something to see and outside the gates every hawker in the area is selling kitschy Virgin Mary trinkets; from statues to baby onesies with her image bejeweled on it.

We are here for another week and then its destination unknown until we head back to SMA to housesit for 5 weeks in a villa. Looking forward to that for sure!

Happy New Year!!